About

Gemma O’Doherty is a multi award-winning journalist whose work has shone a light on some of the darkest corners of Irish life. Former Campaigning Journalist of the Year, her investigations have led to the reopening of a number of unsolved murder cases involving police corruption and political interference.

A Master’s graduate from University College Dublin, she was Chief Features Writer with the Irish Independent and has contributed to The Sunday Times, Daily Mail and Village magazine. She established her credentials as a filmmaker in 2016 when she released ‘Mary Boyle: The Untold Story’, a gripping documentary about a high-level police and political cover-up surrounding Ireland’s longest and youngest missing person. It has been viewed almost 1 million times on YouTube.

Her investigation into the Fr Niall Molloy murder brought about a new police probe and state enquiry. In the Irish parliament, her investigation was described as revealing ‘the biggest cover-up in the history of the state.’ She exposed widespread abuse of Ireland’s road safety laws by high-level VIPs including Ireland’s chief of police, politicians, journalists and members of the legal profession. Gemma is currently working on a number of projects including the unsolved murder of Raonaid Murray.

Her recent report on the Madeleine McCann case exposed striking errors in the BBC’s coverage of the British toddler’s disappearance.

Gemma O’Doherty is the third most influential news journalist in Ireland

Murray Twitter Index

“The Fr Molloy story rumbled on in the background for years until O’Doherty took it up and patiently exposed a series of inconsistencies in the approach of police and prosecutors. She mounted evidence that pointed to collusion and a cover-up.”

The Guardian

“It is rare for a journalist to achieve what Gemma has. In a story (Fr Molloy) embedded with claims of a cover-up, one of the most shocking aspects of last week’s developments (the reopening of the case) was that they came about not as a result of the Gardai’s efforts; they were due to the tenacity of a journalist who has pursued the story doggedly.”

Sunday Independent

‘It is important that we acknowledge, in particular, the journalistic work of Gemma O’Doherty in unearthing information about the Fr Molloy case.”

Justice Minister Alan Shatter

“Gemma’s investigative instincts appear to have been vindicated, however, and Callinan retired in March 2014. Political advisers say of her “She just won’t let it go.” In other words, she’s not easily fobbed off.What she sees in the Mary Boyle case is political interference in a Garda investigation into the death of a child, and she just won’t let it go.”

Irish Times

Gemma O’Doherty “is one of our three leading women writers.”

Irish Independent

“Independent Newspapers wish to acknowledge the exceptional work of multi-award winning investigative journalist Gemma O’Doherty for the Irish Independent during the course of a lengthy career.”